


The Lies We Don't Tell

by blue_dragon_exe



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Deceit Sanders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-09-28 05:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20420582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_dragon_exe/pseuds/blue_dragon_exe
Summary: After years of waiting, Virgil finally manages to escape the dark sides, but deceit isn’t going to let him go that easily





	1. Chapter 1

It was late at night when Virgil made his way downstairs, treading slowly so as not to make any noise. If any of the dark sides caught him...   
Virgil shook his head. He wouldn’t get caught. He couldn’t. The others had gone to sleep hours ago. All he had to do was get down the stairs to the commons, and then he would be able to sink out, hopefully to the light sides.   
Virgil swallowed. That was what he was hoping for anyway, but he’d never been able to test the theory. Casting another nervous look behind him, Virgil slipped into the commons.   
He glanced around the room. If everything went according to plan, this would be the last time he’d ever see the familiar place. Virgil waited for some sense of remorse at the prospect of leaving, but nothing came. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to sink out, when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.   
Virgil whipped around, coming face to face with deceit. Virgils stomach tightened as he tried to come up with an excuse, but the most he could manage was a squeak. Deceit raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “What are you not doing up virgil?”   
Virgil swallowed and took a tiny step back. “Just, uh, couldn’t sleep.”   
He started moving back towards the stairs. “I think ill just, um, just go back to my room now.”   
He spun around, only to be met with Remus coming downstairs.   
“Ooo are we having a party?”   
Virgil tried to stutter out a response, but he was interrupted by deceit.   
“Virgil, were you not trying to sneak out?”   
Remus shot a glance at the other side, and he frowned. “Virgil wasn’t trying to sneak out.”   
Remus nodded. “Okay then, what are we doing?”   
Deceit shook his head. “No, Virgil wasn’t trying to sneak out.”   
“I heard you the first time.”   
Virgil looked between the two of them, then started slowly backing away. Thank the gods remus had never really caught on to deceits habits. Still keeping an eye on the arguing sides, Virgil kept backing up till he was in the center of the commons, and then stopped. This was his chance.   
Just as he started to sink out, virgil heard deceit shriek. “Virgil isn’t leaving!”   
Remus threw his hands up.   
“You said that already!”   
Seeming to lose his patience, deceit grabbed Remus by the shoulders and spun him around to face Virgil.   
His face contorted in a snarl, and Virgil froze in his place. The creative side advanced on him, and he mirrored the other, backing up until he hit the wall. There was no going back now. He had to sink out.   
Virgil concentrated as hard as he could, and a second later he felt a familiar pull in his gut. He heard a shout, and he felt a sharp pain on his cheek, and then everything faded away. He’d done it.


	2. Chapter 2

The other sides were in the middle of movie night when virgil appeared. They were halfway through watching Cinderella when there was a crash coming from the kitchen.   
Roman immediately sprang up from the couch, startling a half asleep Patton and accidentally knocking Logan off the couch. Logan yelped, and Roman looked down sheepishly.   
“Sorry.” He said, offering him a hand up. Patton stood up as well, shooting a nervous look into the kitchen. “What was that?”   
Roman summoned his sword and glared at the other room. “Whatever it was, it stands no chance against my sword!”   
Logan sighed. “Perhaps we should determine what it is before you try to fight it.”   
Roman rolled his eyes, but nodded, lowering his sword as the three of them headed into the kitchen. None of them were really sure what to expect, but they definitely weren’t expecting to find another side passed out on the floor. Roman was still wary, glancing around to see if anything else was going to appear.   
Patton peered out from behind his shoulder, and before anyone could stop him, he rushed forwards.   
“Patton! What are you doing?”   
The moral side barely spared him a glance, focusing on the stranger. “What do you mean Roman? We have to make sure he’s okay!” Roman opened his mouth to retort, but Logan cut him off. “Patton is right. We don’t know why he’s here, but in his current state, it is unlikely he could pose any real threat.”   
Roman sighed and put away his sword. “I guess so.”   
Patton turned back towards them. “Roman, can you help me move him to the couch?”   
He nodded and knelt down next to Patton, scooping up the other side easily. Roman frowned at how light he was, making a mental note to tell Logan later.   
The three of them walked back to the living room, and Roman set the other side on the couch. “Now what?”   
Logan frowned. “I suppose we have to wait for him to wake up.”   
Roman groaned and flopped into the nearest chair, while Patton sat down next to the unconscious side. The moral side brushed the bangs out of his face, and then yelped.   
Roman immediately sat back up.   
“What is it, is he awake?”   
Patton shook his head. “No, he’s bleeding!” Logan sat down next to him and examined the cut. “Its not a severe injury, although we should try to stop it from bleeding anymore.” He summoned a clean cloth and pressed it against the cut, instructing Patton to hold it there.   
Roman leaned forward. “What happened to him?”

The first thing virgil was aware of was that he was definitely not with the dark sides. Even before he opened his eyes, something felt different, lighter somehow.   
The second thing he was aware of was that he wasn’t alone. He could hear voices, although they were to quiet for him to make out.   
Virgil opened his eyes. Wherever he was still looked similar to his old commons, but everything was much nicer. That, and, Virgil could see three other sides in the other room. They had their backs turned to him, but before virgil could consider sneaking away, one of them turned around.   
Virgil tensed, but the other side lit up, spinning around to alert the other two.   
“Roman, he’s awake!”   
The other side, Roman, turned around, as did the third.   
“Finally, we’ve been waiting all night!” “Roman, you’re going to scare him away being this loud.”   
Virgil cleared his throat, interrupting them. “Um, who are you guys? And where am I?” The first one spoke up. “Oh, right, sorry about that kiddo! My name is Patton, and this is Logan, and Roman.”   
Roman stepped forward. “You crashed into our kitchen last night, we were hoping you could fill us in on that part.”   
Virgil ran a hand through his hair, wincing when he brushed the cut on his cheek. He was lucky Remus generally didn’t have very good aim. Virgil shivered, half expecting one of the dark sides to pop up and bring him back. Before he could get any further down that train of thought, he remembered he still hadn’t answered Roman.   
The others made their way into the living room, sitting down in the chairs opposite him. Patton leaned forward. “Whats your name?” Virgil swallowed and looked down at his lap. “Anxiety.”   
Roman frowned. “So you’re a dark side then.” Virgil flinched and Patton gasped and swatted Roman. “Don’t be mean!”   
“What? He’s a dark side!”   
Logan looked confused. “I don’t understand. I thought the dark sides had their own version of the mind palace, what are you doing here?” Virgils eyes widened, and he shrunk back into the couch cushions.   
“Please don’t send me back!” Logan looked surprised, but he shook his head. “If you don’t want to go back we wont make you.”   
He turned to Roman. “Do you think you can create a place for him to stay?”   
Roman nodded and stood up, offering virgil a hand. “Come on anxiety, I’ll show you your new room.”


	3. Chapter 3

It had been nearly a week now since Virgil escaped the dark sides. He now had his own room, courtesy of Roman, and no one had questioned him further about his appearance. Which was a good thing, because virgil wasn’t keen on reminiscing about his life before.   
He still felt a little awkward around the others, but at least none of them hated him. Virgil had tried not to leave his room as much as possible, mostly to avoid Roman. He felt bad about it, but the other side still reminded him too much of remus. The others had left him alone for the most part, aside from Patton regularly bringing him meals.   
Virgil sighed and laid his head on his desk. He knew it wasn’t really fair of him to ignore the others like this, but their, well, lightness, would still take some getting used to. Virgil was used to not seeing anyone else for days, and when he did, it was never pleasant.   
He shook his head to clear the memories.   
He’d left that behind.   
Virgil glanced at the clock. The other sides would probably be having dinner soon. Patton always invited him, but so far he hadn’t been able to work up the courage. Maybe he could give it a try just this once. Before he could change his mind, virgil stood up and started towards the door. Just as he reached for the handle, a voice behind him stopped him cold. “Hello virgil.”   
He whipped around, coming face to face with deceit.   
“What are you doing here?”   
Deceit crossed his arms and took a step towards virgil. “I’m not here to bring you back.” “I’m not going back.”   
The other side raised an eyebrow. “Of course you aren’t. The light sides definitely want you here.”   
Virgil flinched, taking another step back towards the door. “You’re wrong.”   
Virgil tried to sound confidant, but really, deceit was probably right.   
The other side didn’t buy it.   
“They don’t pretend to like you, but they wont hurt you if you step out of line. They’re nothing like us.”   
Deceit looked to the side, and virgil took his chance, darting out of the room and into the hallway. Still focused on his door, virgil didn’t notice that Roman stepped out of his room at the same time, and they collided.   
Virgil scrambled up quickly, still waiting for deceit to follow him out. Roman huffed. “Where are you going so fast?”   
Virgil whipped around, having forgotten for a second about the prince. He mumbled out a quick apology and turned to the stairs, but Roman grabbed his arm to stop him.   
Before virgil could protest, the other side started pulling him back to his room.   
“What are you doing Roman?”   
The other side didn’t answer, staring straight ahead. Virgil started to panic. “Hey, let me go!”   
What if deceit was still in there? He might try to hurt Roman too.   
“Stop, you can’t go in there! Roman, let go!” Virgil was so focused on getting away from the door, that he didn’t even see the dagger in Romans hand. He spun around to face the other side, when suddenly a white hot pain erupted in his side, and he gasped.   
Looking down, virgil felt his vision spin at the sight of the dagger imbedded in his stomach. They’d reached the door, and Roman released him, letting him sink to the floor. Distantly, virgil heard the door click shut behind the other side, but all he could focus on was the immense pain of the dagger.   
Against his will, a few tears slipped free and slid down his cheeks.   
He couldn’t die now, not when he’d just escaped.   
Deceit was right.   
The light sides weren’t any different from the dark sides.   
Virgil coughed, feeling a thin trail of blood leave his mouth. The pain wasn’t so bad now, but he was so tired. Maybe just a quick nap, and then he’d feel better.   
In the back of his mind, virgil knew he was dying, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. At least he wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore.   
With that thought, virgil closed his eyes and let the world fade away.


	4. Chapter 4

Consciousness came back to virgil all at once. He was still in his room, and more importantly, he was alive.  
Virgil glanced down, half expecting to see the knife still sticking out of his stomach, but there was nothing there.  
Maybe it had been a dream?  
Virgil sat up and glanced around the room. It couldn’t have been a dream, the knife was laying on the floor, still covered in his blood. Virgil stood up, wincing as his sore muscles protested. He may not have had a knife wound anymore, but his stomach still ached.  
How long had he been, asleep?  
Dead?  
What had happened?  
Virgil glanced around his room for any sign of deceit. Had he left when virgil ran away?  
What if he hurt Roman?  
Oh gods, Roman. He really wasn’t any different from his brother.  
Why should virgil worry about him? Roman stabbed him!  
But in the back of his mind, a part of virgil wondered if he deserved it. He was a dark side after all, Roman was probably just trying to protect his friends.  
Virgil looked at his door. Should he face the others? They didn’t seem to want him gone, but then again, neither had Roman.  
Virgil stood there for another ten minutes, trying to decide whether or not to leave, when a knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts.  
“Kiddo? Are you awake?”  
Virgil frowned. What was Patton doing here? “You haven’t eaten anything this past week, are you feeling okay?”  
Virgil had to stop himself from gasping out loud. He’d been out for a week? He was so distracted by this new piece of information that it took him a minute to realize Patton was still talking.  
“-getting ready to have dinner if you want to join us.”  
Virgil glanced at the bloody knife on his floor, suddenly realizing just how much he didn’t want to be alone right now. Before he could talk himself out of it, virgil opened the door and peeked out.  
Patton looked surprised to see him, but then his face lit up, and virgil immediately felt better. He was glad when Patton didn’t ask any questions, instead just leading virgil downstairs by the arm.  
The anxious side had to squash his panic, the touch reminding him of the last time someone had grabbed him.  
Patton wasn’t going to hurt him.  
Deceit was wrong.  
He had to be. 

Logan looked up from his book when he heard Patton on the stairs. When he turned around, he was surprised to see that anxiety was with him.  
None of the sides had seen him in a week, and they had started to think he might’ve gone back to the dark sides.  
Logan nodded a greeting to the anxious side as Patton swept past them into the kitchen. After a moments hesitation, anxiety sat down at the table next to Logan.  
He looked nervous, and he kept shooting looks around the room like he was waiting for something.  
As if on que, Roman appeared in the kitchen, and anxiety flinched.  
Logan wouldn’t have thought this was strange, as anxiety seemed easily startled, but he didn’t miss how he shrunk down in his chair, wrapping his arms around himself as if to protect him.  
Logan made a mental note to observe anxiety more carefully. He still wasn’t exactly sure what had happened to make him stay in his room for a week, but he had a bad feeling. Over the next few days, Logan kept an eye on anxiety, noting that he seemed exceptionally, well, anxious.  
The strange part was that although he seemed nervous around him and Patton, he appeared to be downright terrified of Roman. Every time the creative side entered the room anxiety would jump, and he would usually find an excuse to leave soon after.  
Logan shook his head as he watched Roman flop onto the couch, taking over the spot where anxiety had been sitting before he saw Roman coming and immediately sank out. Something was going on, and he would get to the bottom of it.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few years, virgil got used to being around the light sides, along with learning how to better deal with the dark sides. After the first time, virgil had died about seven more times, both by Roman and the dark sides, but more often than not he would manage to get away in time.  
After about a year of living with the light sides, virgil had realized that as long as the dark sides were focused on attacking him, they hadn’t really bothered to go after the others. Since then, virgil had taken up spending the night sitting in the hall outside the others doors, and on more than one occasion he’d been able to catch a dark side trying to get into one of the others rooms.  
It was always painful to come back after he died, so virgil usually aimed to just distract the dark sides and then slip away. Recently, as virgil got closer to the other sides, his main concern had become trying to keep them from finding out about his fights.  
He knew it would worry them, and they wouldn’t want to let him fight alone, which would put them in danger. So far, virgil had only had one close call.  
They’d all been having a movie night, when remus popped up to pick a fight.  
Roman had immediately jumped up to chase him off, but remus still had time to throw one of his ninja stars straight at Patton.  
Virgil, being closest to him, had tackled Patton to the floor, and the blade that was meant for Patton lodged itself in Virgil’s throat.  
Virgil sunk out of the room as soon as he was sure Roman could take care of remus. He’d tried to patch himself up, but he’d bled out seconds after getting to his room.  
A few days later, virgil woke up in his room and had to come up with an excuse for why he’d disappeared.  
Although he’d done a good job keeping his secret for the past few years, as he and the others got closer, it was harder to explain why he would randomly disappear for days or weeks at a time.  
At least an upside to his new friendship with the others meant he and Roman had finally started getting along. Virgil was still nervous around the creative side, but he never blamed Roman for hurting him.  
Roman was the protector and the hero of the light sides, and until recently, virgil was the villain.  
And then virgil tried to duck out, and everything changed for the better.  
Suddenly, after years of being alone, virgil had a family. To make things even better, virgil hadn’t seen or heard from the dark sides in months.  
It was the calm before the storm. 

Virgil and Roman were having a movie night when it happened. Logan and Patton were both helping Thomas with a project, so it was just the two of them.  
Roman yawned and stretched out on the couch, hogging all the blankets. Virgil whined and nudged him.  
“Roman! Give me some blankets too!”  
The creative side only wrapped the blankets tighter around himself, and virgil huffed and paused the movie.  
“Fine, I’ll be right back.” Virgil sunk out into his room to grab a blanket, pulling up short when he rose up.  
Both deceit and remus were standing across the room glaring at him.  
Well, deceit was glaring, remus just looked like he was pouting.  
Virgil stumbled back. “What are you two doing here? I already told you I’m not going back!” Deceit smirked at him. “You see virgil, you actually have a choice. I finally-“  
“show him the knife!”  
Deceit crossed his arms turned to the other side.  
“Yes remus that isn’t what i was saying.” Before remus had a chance to interrupt again, deceit reached into his jacket, pulling out a long dagger.  
Virgil froze.  
This couldn’t happen again, Roman was expecting him down any minute, they just had to show up now.  
“You should know by now that won’t work. I’ll just come back right here in a few days.” Deceit only smiled.  
“That’s what doesn’t make this knife special. You won’t come back, but you’ll still be here.” At Virgil’s look of confusion, remus spoke up. “You’ll die, then come back in your old room. See dee, you don’t have to be so confusing all the time!”  
Virgil was panicking. He couldn’t go back. If he was there, who would protect the light sides?  
He wanted to sink out, but where?  
If he went back to the living room he’d bring deceit and remus straight to an unsuspecting Roman.  
“Virgil, whats taking so long?”  
Virgils heart dropped. Dammit Roman! Remus perked up, staring to move towards the door. “No!” Virgil launched himself at the dark side and tackled him into the ground.  
Remus only laughed, throwing virgil off him easily and standing up.  
“We haven’t had a good fight in ages!” He summoned his mace and advanced on virgil. Deceit stood beside him, holding his knife ready. Virgil looked between the two of them. There was no way he could fight both of them at once.  
He was going to die here, and then he would have to spend the rest of his life in the darkest corner of the mind space.  
Virgil felt the wall against his back.  
He had nowhere to go.  
“ROMAN!”  
Remus was momentarily distracted by Virgil’s shout, and he dove out of the way seconds before the mace hit the wall.  
Virgil rolled to his feet on the other side of the room.  
He could hear footsteps on the stairs, help was coming.  
Remus was focused on him again, and he had to scramble to avoid the mace. In his haste to avoid remus, Virgil almost didn’t move fast enough to dodge a swipe from deceits knife.  
A noise came from just outside his door, and virgil turned to look as Roman burst through the door, sword in hand.  
Virgil was so focused on Roman he forgot about the dark sides, and remus’s mace caught him in the shoulder.  
Virgil yelped, the force of the blow sending him to the ground.  
Deceit raised his knife, and virgil curled in on himself.  
Roman was too late.


	6. Chapter 6

Roman should’ve realized something was wrong when virgil didn’t come back right away.  
He was only going to get a blanket, there was no way it would take that long. Roman sat up and looked towards the stairs.  
“Virgil, whats taking so long?”  
There was no reply, but a second later, he heard a shout and a crash coming from Virgil’s room.  
Roman frowned and got up. Maybe he should go check on virgil, just to be sure-  
“ROMAN!”  
Virgils voice came from upstairs, and it was wrong.  
In all the years they’d known each other, Roman had never heard him sound so scared. He didn’t waste another second, pulling out his sword and dashing up the stairs to Virgil’s room.  
He kicked open the door, pulling up short at the scene in front of him.  
Deceit and remus were both there, virgil trapped in between them. The other side paused when he caught sight of Roman, relief showing on his face.  
It only lasted for a second however, as remus had managed to get in behind Virgil, his mace connecting with the other sides shoulder. Virgils face crumpled in pain, and he yelped and fell to the ground. Deceit raised his knife, and Roman jumped into action.  
He aimed a kick at deceit, sending the knife clattering to the ground, where Roman quickly scooped it up at aimed it at the other.  
With his other hand, he pointed his sword at his brother.  
“Don’t touch him.”  
Remus made a pouty face and shrugged. “Worth a try!”  
Before Roman could retort, he was gone. He looked over at deceit, but the other side appeared to be unconscious. Keeping one eye on the snake, Roman knelt down next to virgil. He was curled into a ball on the floor, arms over his head in an effort to protect himself. Roman pushed down his anger. He could deal with the dark sides later, but for now, virgil needed his help.  
“Virgil, are you okay?”  
The other side lowered his arms, glancing around the room before his eyes landed on Roman.  
“Roman?”  
Before he could respond, Virgil started shaking, and Roman took his hands.  
“Hey, its okay virgil. You need to calm down, you’re safe now.”  
Virgil didn’t seem to have heard him, so Roman reached up and lifted his chin so he could look him in the eye.  
“Virgil, look at me. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.”  
He opened his arms, and virgil fell into them immediately, burying his face in romans shoulder. They stayed like that till virgil calmed down, and he leaned back. Virgil looked at the floor.  
“Sorry.” He mumbled.  
Roman opened his mouth to reply, when movement behind virgil caught his eye.  
Deceit was awake.  
Roman stood up quickly, pushing virgil behind him. Deceit only smiled, and his eyes started to glow yellow.  
Roman rushed forwards. Or at least he tried to. He couldn’t seem to get his body to obey him, and he suddenly realized what was happening.  
“Roman? Are you okay?”  
Roman realized what was going to happen a second too late.  
Despite his best attempts, he couldn’t stop himself from spinning around and grabbing Virgil’s injured arm, causing him to yelp in pain. He tossed the other side to the ground, wincing when Virgil’s head hit the floor. Roman turned around and moved towards the other side of the room.  
To his horror, he felt himself lean down and pick up the knife deceit had been holding earlier.  
He turned back to virgil, and confusion replaced the fear on the other sides face. What are you doing? Roman wanted to shout. You need to run!  
Virgil looked back and forth between Roman and deceit, and understanding dawned on his face.  
“You’re controlling him.”  
Deceit nodded, and Virgil’s face twisted in anger.  
“You’ve been controlling him the whole time! Haven’t you? All these years, it was you!” Roman frowned. What were they talking about? All these years, had this happened before? Why couldn’t he remember?  
Roman shook himself out of his thoughts. He could fill in the holes later, after they got out of this.  
“Virgil,” Roman forced out. “You have to run.” Virgil stood up, but made no move to run. “What are you doing? You have to run!”  
Virgil glanced at deceit and shook his head.  
“I cant leave you here with him.”  
“Dammit, virgil-“  
Roman was interrupted by deceit.  
“Sorry virgil, but we don’t have to do this.” Despite romans best efforts, he couldn’t stop himself from moving on virgil.  
He slashed at the other side with the knife, and virgil just barely ducked out of the way. “Come on Roman, you have to fight him! You’re stronger than he is!”  
“I’m trying!” Roman hissed through gritted teeth.  
He swiped at virgil again, this time catching him across the cheek. Virgil hissed and jumped back.  
“I’m so sorry! Listen to me virgil, you have to get out of here, call Logan and Patton, they’ll help you!”  
Virgil shook his head, one hand still clutching his shoulder.  
“I’m not leaving you, and i won’t put Logan and Patton in danger either.”  
Virgil darted around him, flinging himself straight at deceit. His concentration broken, he lost his hold on Roman, and the creative side dropped to the ground, knife clattering to the floor.  
Virgil glanced up at him to make sure he was alright, and deceit surged upwards, throwing the other side off of him.  
Virgil flew backwards, and his face went blank as his head hit the wall behind him.  
Roman jumped up, but deceit got there first. He yanked a semi conscious virgil to his feet, his other hand holding the knife.  
Unlike the movies, time didn’t slow down, it just kept going as normal, and Roman was too slow.  
Deceit plunged the knife into Virgil’s stomach, and then he was gone, leaving the anxious side to collapse to the floor. Roman leaped forward to catch him, lowering them both to the ground.  
Virgil’s breathing was too fast, too unsteady, and he was losing too much blood. There were tears streaking the sides of his face, his hands hovering over the knife.  
“Hold on virgil, you’re going to be okay, just hold on for me.”  
Virgils eyes roamed around before settling on Roman. He reached out a shaky hand, and Roman grasped it tightly.  
“I d’wanna die.”  
Romans heart dropped.  
“You’re not going to die, i wont let you.”  
Virgil coughed and tried to sit up.  
“Hey, don’t move, okay? You need to save your strength.”  
Virgil squeezed his hand tighter.  
“I need your help, you have to come, i need you-“  
Virgil broke off with a cough, eyes drifting shut.  
“No, don’t do that virgil, you have to stay awake!”  
Roman shook him, but he didn’t open them again.  
“No, no no no no, come on!”  
He looked around the room.  
“LOGAN! PATTON!”

Logan and Patton were in the middle of trying to help Thomas with one of his videos when Roman called them.  
As they dropped into the room, Patton opened his mouth to ask Roman what was going on when he noticed the scene in front of him.  
First off, they were in Virgil’s room for some reason, and it was a complete mess.  
“Roman what-“  
Before he could finish, the creative side turned around, and Patton’s breath caught.  
Tears streaked Roman’s face, and his eyes were wide with panic.  
“Help me.”  
He and logan rushed over and dropped down next to Roman, and Patton clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle a cry.  
Roman was cradling a limp virgil in his arms, and both of their clothes were stained with blood.  
“What happened?”  
Logan spoke first, and even his voice shook a little.  
“Deceit, and remus, i think they were waiting for him, I tried to help but deceit-“  
He broke off with a sob.  
“I wasn’t fast enough to stop him.”  
Patton laid a hand on romans shoulder. “Virgil?”  
Roman bit his lip and looked down at the anxious side.  
“He’s gone. I tried to help him, but it happened so fast.”  
Patton could feel tears on his cheeks now, and when he looked up, he saw logan was crying too. He reached out to to the side, drawing the others in closer.  
The three of them stayed that way for a long time, until Virgil’s body faded away. Once he was gone, a knife clattered to the ground, and Roman picked it up.  
His face twisted up in a snarl.  
“We cant let him get away with this.”  
Logan moved to put a hand on his arm, but then froze, staring at the knife.  
Patton looked at him. “Logan? You okay?”  
The logical side didn’t answer, taking the knife from Roman and turning it over.  
“I recognize these inscriptions. It’s a spell.” Roman looked up sharply. “What kind of spell?”  
Logan frowned and looked closer. “Its hard to make out, but it looks like a tethering spell.” Patton tilted his head. “Whats a tethering spell doing on a knife?”  
Roman stared at the knife. “What exactly does a tethering spell do?”  
Logan shrugged and put the knife down.  
“Well, simply put, it tethers objects to one another, like a person to an object, or-“  
“or a person to a place?”  
Logan looked at Roman.  
“Yes, it could tie a person to a place. Why?” Roman stood up and started pacing.  
“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I don’t think virgil is dead.”  
Logan sighed. “Roman, i know its hard, but we all saw-“  
“hear me out! Before he died, virgil said something, he said he needed my help, that I needed to come, i thought he was just talking about right then, but maybe,”  
“maybe he wanted you to come find him.” Patton finished.  
Logan stood up. “Where else would virgil be?” Roman looked at the knife.  
“I don’t know what happened today, but I don’t think Deceit wasn’t just here to kill virgil. I think he took him.”  
Patton stood up too.  
“Let’s go save virgil.”


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing virgil was able to register was that everything hurt.   
Usually after he died he would be sore for a while, but this didn’t feel any better than right after he was stabbed.   
Virgils eyes snapped open as his memories came back to him. He shot up, immediately regretting it when it send a hot flash of pain through his chest.   
Virgil groaned and curled in on himself, only to instantly recoil when he felt something wet. Blood.   
Virgils breathing sped up. Why was he still bleeding? He’d always come back fully healed before, something must be wrong.   
What if he died for real this time?   
Virgil squeezed his eyes shut. He had to calm down, he wouldn’t be doing himself any favors by having a panic attack.   
In for four, hold for seven, out for eight.   
Once his breathing was somewhat close to normal, virgil opened his eyes. And almost immediately freaked out again.   
He was in his old room.   
After years of fighting to escape, and then to stay away, he was back.   
Virgil scanned the room, but there was no sign of either of the dark sides.   
He frowned. It couldn’t be as simple as just sinking out, right?   
Maybe they’d expected him to be too weak. Virgil bit his lip. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to sink down while he was still injured.   
But what if he never had another chance?   
He scanned the room one last time, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Before he could talk himself out of it, or give anyone the chance to stop him, virgil sunk out.   
If he’d been paying attention, he would have noticed deceit standing in the corner of his room, smiling as the anxious side disappeared. 

It had been almost a whole day since virgil died, and Roman was no closer to coming up with a plan to get him back.   
Growling in frustration, the creative side dropped his head onto his arms. It was his fault virgil died in the first place, and now he was probably trapped with the dark sides. Even working together with Logan and Patton, they hadn’t been able to come up with a good plan.   
Suddenly, a whooshing sound from behind him startled Roman out of his thoughts, and he jumped up.   
And immediately froze.  
Standing behind him was virgil, very much not dead. For a second Roman thought he was dreaming, and then Virgil swayed on his feet. “Roman?”   
Before he could respond, Virgils eyes rolled back, and Roman barely moved fast enough to catch him as he collapsed.   
He scooped up the other side, and as he moved towards the couch, Roman was reminded of another time he’d carried virgil like this.   
Feeling a wetness against his shirt, Roman looked down, biting his lip when he realized it was blood.   
“Logan, Patton, I need your help in here!” Laying virgil down on the couch, Roman turned around to see the other two sides pull up short on the stairs.   
Before he could even open his mouth, Patton flew past him and dropped down next to the couch, Logan right behind him.   
The logical side turned to him.   
“What happened?”   
“I don’t know. I was sitting at the table and he just appeared, and then passed out immediately.”   
Patton turned back to the two of them.   
“We can ask him what happened when he wakes up. For now we just need to stop this bleeding.”   
Logan nodded and sunk out, and Roman dropped down next to Patton.   
Now that virgil was back, and alive, he finally had a chance to absorb everything. Somehow, in the last twenty four hours, virgil had died, been kidnapped, and then mysteriously reappeared.   
As much as Roman wanted to be happy that virgil was back, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.   
It couldn’t be this easy. 

As soon as logan was out of the room, he let his facade drop.   
No matter how many times he told himself that virgil was okay, he was just downstairs, he was safe, the logical side couldn’t help it. It was only yesterday that he’d been summoned into the room to find Roman holding a dead virgil in his arms.   
Logan shuddered. That memory would be with him forever.   
How did the others handle emotions this strong all the time?   
Taking a deep breath, he tried to push down the feelings. Virgil still needed him.   
Once he was calmed down, logan grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom, and then sunk back into the living room.   
The others hadn’t moved from the couch, probably scared to leave virgil alone.   
Logan passed the bandages to roman, and in a few minutes Virgil’s wound had been carefully cleaned and wrapped.   
Both of them were relieved to realize it wasn’t as bad as they thought, only a shallow cut remained.   
Now all that was left was to wait for him to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I’ve been super busy this week, and I haven’t had time to work on this at all. I hope you guys like the new chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Sanders Sides fic, and my first multichaptered fic, and I hope you guys like it! I’ve already finished a lot of this, so updates will be at least every other day. Feedback is appreciated, especially if anyone has any ideas on good endings!


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